:
:
: There are excellent data on cultures (like Asian ones)
: that eat soy and very small amounts of meat or none at
: all, living much longer than Western cultures. But the thing is I can't find them. I can find, very, very easily, lots of studies with specific references to cancer of various sorts and heart disease. What I can't find is a single epidemiological study into life expectancy, comparing matched vegetarian and non vegetarian groups. In fact I can't find many unmatched ones either. Having been sent to look at the famous China Cornell study a number of times (although I haven't been there for a bit) it struck me that in their comparisons of meat vs. nonmeat there were far too many other, specifically social, factors which didn't appear to be accounted for.
What also confuses me is, quite seriously, from what vegetarians actually do die. If the major causes of death in the western world are cancer and vascular disease and if vegetarians have reduced chances of suffering from both, then why do they "kick the bucket"? The next most frequent causes are, I think, road traffic accidents, and murder. Even I wouldn't have the temerity to suggest vegetarians are more likely to suffer these ;-)
I must admit that I have made an assumpton though. I assume that by reduced "heart disease" people are refering to reduced vascular disease. It may be that in fact the chance of other vascular disease is in fact unaffected-maybe all vegetarians die of strokes instead...
Finally on the subject of BSE, I stand by my earlier posting on the McDonald's section of the Debating Room
Will Howson (Doctor to be)
Long Live The McCarrot Campaign
